City of Bones, Switching Places
by monkkie-jedi
Summary: Jonathon 'Jace' Fray has lived a normal fifteen, nearly sixteen, years in New York and is looking for change-but nothing like what he gets in the fiery red head, Clarissa Wayland. She's exciting and passionate, fun and a Shadowhunter. AU switched roles
1. Pandemonium

**A/N: This is an idea that hit me when I was rereading the Mortal Instruments Series for a book project (don't you hate it when people laugh at your choice of books?) and I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with the Mortal Instruments Series, except for Blake, and this specific idea.**

**Chapter 1**

**Pandemonium**

Outside of the club named Pandemonium, teenagers stood in line to get in. The music could be heard from inside, so loud that people in the cars on the street cringed at the sounds. Every time the door opened or closed, those waiting in line could see bright colored strobe lights and see the fog that came from the dry ice.

"Look, it's foam, see?" Jace watched as the kid tried to get his way in, his costume that of some stupid vampire hunter or something. His hair was dark colored, didn't even shine when one of the stray lights hit it. While his hair was strange, his eyes were stranger with their bright green color. It was unnatural, like grass – or anti-freeze. In the corner of his eye, Jace watched as his friend drooled over the boy.

"You think you could lose any more fluids, Blake?" The dark haired girl jumped at the sound of both his voice and her name. While Jace was handsome with his fair hair, golden eyes, and tanned skin, Blake was dark haired, brown eyed, and pale. How the two had ended up hanging out together, neither of them knew, but they'd been friends ever since they could remember.

"Jeez, Jace, you need to learn to stop protecting me and start looking at other girls besides me." She got this look on her face, the one when she made up something funny. Then she smirked, "Unless you're playing for the wrong team? Then I totally understand, and I really think it's better. I mean, we can talk about shopping and cute little animals, and _other boys!_" He shook his head and used the music that was coming from inside to drown out the sound of her voice.

She was like a sister to him, and that meant she came along with all of the annoyances too. But, soon enough, they got inside and it was too loud to hear anything, much less the girl beside him.

_Humans. Why were they so easily tricked into believing lies? _He thought to himself, running a finger along the razor sharp blade that the bouncer had thought was harmless foam. _A few suave words, a little glamour on the blade, and I got in without a hitch. _Silently, he laughed at himself, although it wouldn't have mattered in there. The music drowned out any sound that could be made.

He doubted even a siren could go off in there and be heard.

As he moved through the crowd, he kept on looking for the most delicious one out of the bunch. That was when his eyes came upon the wonderful yet vicious red head. Her flaming red hair was irritatingly familiar, yet he couldn't recall where from. Her green eyes pulled me in even more, reminding me of the ones I made with the glamour on my eyes. Her skin, although pale, was flawless. In the middle of her chest was a bright red pendant that seemed to pulse. It was definitely real – real and vital. The red head motioned with her eyes for the boy to get closer.

Closer, he could see the flaws. Her skin held freckles on her face, and he could see that her mascara was smeared, most likely from sweat. Her hair was slightly crazed from dancing and moving around in here for a long while, and there was a scar on her inner right ankle. Her strappy heels only partially covered the scar.

She kept on moving backwards, motioning for him to follow her. When they stopped, her back had hit a door that said NO ADMITTANCE on the front, and she smirked for only a moment before she, with a quick motion, twisted the knob and entered the room. He followed not long after, unknowing of the three figures following him.

Jace and Blake sat at the 'bar' – since it was an all ages club, there was no alcohol at the bar – and Jace was trying his hardest not to laugh at Blake. She was still gawking at the dark haired guy with the unnatural eyes and strange costume, and it made Jace want to laugh. He had never seen his friend react like that to a guy. "You might want to think about going over there before you lose enough water to make you go into a coma." Once again, she jumped in surprise, this time wiping the back of her hand across her mouth to make sure he was lying. He laughed as she did it.

Then he went off into his own little world, watching everyone else from the perfect seat. He watched as an Asian couple with multicolored hair made out in the corner, seemingly unnoticed. Many of the people on the dance floor were dancing awkwardly, trying to move like the people in music videos by failing miserably. And then he saw the girl.

From the look of her, she was a year or two younger than himself, but the outfit made her look older. Her hair was a flaming red, when you took away all of the strobe lights and fog, flaming red curls that went down to mid back. They weren't tight set curls, but more like wavy curls that made her look even better than the girls who straightened their hair every single morning when they got up. Her eyes were a striking green, but they were a naturally bright green unlike the boy with the vamp hunter costume. Her skin was pale and she had freckles, and she was beautiful. But her beauty wasn't artificial; she just _was._

But when he looked at the vamp kid that she was watching, he felt his hopes deflate like a balloon. What did that girl see in a nerd like that? While the dark hair worked in his favor, his eyes and strange costume worked against him. "Oh, you finally found one you like. Finally! Oh, wait, she's taken already, and the hot guy with the vamp hunter costume. Too bad for us." But her voice made it seem like she wasn't too upset.

Jace had just rolled his eyes and turned to look out at the crowd when he saw the dull glint of some kind of knife in the hand of a dark haired girl that was following the couple – the nerd and the red head. When he turned his head, he found the dull glint once again from too other points in the crowd, from two guys. "Blake, go get the bodyguards, I see knives."

Suddenly, the girl got serious and quickly hurried off towards the front. When Jace got down from his seat a moment later, she hadn't made any progress towards the front.

When the guy followed the girl inside the room, he was too occupied with the girl in front of him to worry about the click of the door behind him. He didn't even notice.

"What's your name?" He purred, and he nearly growled when he saw the smile come to her face. What he didn't know at the moment was that it was a smirk. "Clarissa Wayland. Now, are we going to talk or is it going to be something else entirely?" She quickly moved forward, using her fingers on her left hand to hook the belt on his jeans. But, as she did it, he watched as her long black sleeve was pushed back. On her wrist was something silver with little symbols on them, unable to be read if he weren't what he was, or a Shadow…hunter. "No!" His eyes widened for a moment before he was pushed backwards with a tremendous force and something closed around his wrists.

A moment later, his ankles were bound too, and he saw another girl – this one dressed similarly to the red head, but her hair was as black as ink and her eyes were the color of charcoal. Her skin was flawless, unlike the freckled face of the red head. They both wore pendants that pulsed with the sound of their hearts. At the moment, each had smirks on their faces. "Oh, Isabelle, so lucky that you appeared. I almost lost my virtue to some random stranger. Thank _God _that you appeared when you did."

The demon hissed and writhed as the gold burned and chafed his skin, the gold that made both of the whips making him harmless at the moment. "Clary, enough, let's just finish him off." The girl let a pout come to her face, but her eyes twinkled with mischief. "But why dear Alec? It's so much fun. And I'm guessing you already know what we are, demon." When she turned back to him, his eyes held nothing but disgust and revolt.

"Damn you Shadowhunter!" It hissed, and the smirk once again graced her face as she put her heel lightly on the side of his knee – easy with how he was laying – and looked him in the eye. "Got you."

When Jace entered the room, he didn't know what to expect. A bloody body on the ground, eyes forever open in fright? Or the three surrounding the two with malice in their eyes? But what he saw was nothing like what he was thinking. _Are they crazy?_ he thought to himself, _did she just call him demon? _

"Got you." The one he had found was named Clary whispered, hardly loud enough to hear, and put her heel on the side of his knee. A moment later, there was the sound of something piercing skin as her heel went through it. The heel was sharpened to a point like a knife, and it easily made its way through skin and sinews, all the way to the bone.

"What the hell!" Once it escaped Jace's mouth, he knew he had said it too loud. The four had heard him. "Oh great, a mundie! Alec, I told you that you didn't put the runes on correctly." The one named Isabelle turned to the one with ink black hair similar to hers and he blushed slightly before he straightened himself. "None of the other mundies were able to see us out there, so I doubt that it was my fault Isabelle." She crossed her arms across her chest and put a pout on her face.

"Whatever the hell you're talking about, I don't care. But you can't just torture humans like that; it's just barbaric." The red head – Clary – smirked as she approached Jace, looking him over appraisingly. "Yeah, you can't just torture _humans _like that. Isn't that right Simon?" The one with dark brown hair was smiling at her as he nodded.

"So, how about you get out of here and forget you ever saw anything, because I think that no one will believe you anyway. No one else can see us; well, they can see _you. _They can't see the five of us, since there's a little bitty glamour over us. So, before the demon finds a way out of the bindings, I suggest you get out of here." This time, she gave him an annoyed look, and Jace had to fight the urge to glare at her.

"There's no such thing as demons." He said reproachfully, trying to mean it with these crazy people but failing. "Oh, so I'm just killing some innocent mundane for no reason at all, with this?" When she pulled it up, he nearly gulped in fright. A girl with a knife – a crazy girl with a knife – wasn't who he wanted to be in front of at the moment.

"I suggest you get out of here before you get one of us killed mundie, and I'd prefer it be you over me so…" she trailed off and let him think about it, and Jace didn't doubt that she would let him get killed instead of her. "So, you leaving or what because I –" She was cut off as she started, unable to finish her sentence as the boy jumped from where he was and pulled her to the ground.

The two were a blur of black and her flaming hair, and Jace caught sight of the blade a few times too. But when he blinked, he found that the demon was on top of her, straddling her as his razor like claws shined with blood. A moment later, though, they were a blur once again, and Jace was staring at the black haired girl in amazement. "You're not going to help her or something?"

The girl bit her lip and shook her head. "It's too dangerous. When Clary gets in a fight, it's all too quick to try and help with the my whip; I have as much a chance of hitting the demon as hitting her, and I don't think I don't want to hurt her." He rolled his eyes as they traveled back to the fight before them.

It all stopped suddenly, with Clary on top of him, her hand on the hilt of the blade that she had shown Jace only moments before. It was where his heart was, but not deep enough to kill him, but it sure was a pain. "Now, this isn't deep enough to kill you but it sure will be if you don't tell me something I would like to know in the next few seconds." The demon hissed and tried to throw her off, but he was pinned.

"Fine, fine! I'll tell you something. I know where Valentine is, I can tell you everyone who works for him. Just get this forsaken blade out of me before–" And this time, the demon was cut off as the blade went in hilt deep. "God forsaken demons, they'll say anything to save their own skins."

There was a gurgle and a hiss before the body started folding in on itself. Within seconds, there was no body, none of the black blood, not a trace that there had even been a body right there in front of them. "Stupid mundie, you could've gotten Clary killed!" The one named Alec said, obviously angered by his actions. He stepped forward a couple of steps before with his hands on the hilt of another blade before Clary put a hand on his shoulder.

"Alec, I'm fine." The voice that she had used all evening had gone to be replaced by a kinder and gentler one obviously reserved for him. They were together, of course they were. Just Jace's luck. Although, he doubted he would even considering going out with her after that episode. They were just crazy, and so was he for believing all of that had happened.

When Jace looked over the red head, he saw that her right arm was severely cut, scratches like that of a cat going from her wrist to her elbow. "Just draw me an _iratze_ and I'll be fine Alec. And quickly, please. This stings like hell." The end was more playful and sarcastic, more like what Jace had heard before. He guessed that she was trying to come over as the one giving the orders instead of the damsel in distress.

Alec took out a long wand like item and put it to Clary's skin, and then it went deeper. Wherever it had been, dark black lines were left like a trail. But, once he was done, it almost seemed to burn as the claw marks started to disappear. "Thanks Alec." He gave her a polite nod, an ugly look to Jace, and then stepped back. "Oh, and I doubt that the guards will take you seriously if you can't produce a body, mundie."

When Jace opened his mouth to reply, he was cut off by the sound of the door opening and Blake's voice. "Jace, you in here?" He turned around to find the dark haired girl staring at him with wide eyes. "Where are they?"

He turned around for only a moment and saw Clary's smirk and a wave before she disappeared along with the other three. "Um, I think it might have been a trick of the light. No one's here." The guards looked at him disapprovingly before they threw them out for troublemaking.

"I can't believe you." Blake said as they tried to hail a cab. "Sorry Blake, I really thought I saw something back there." The girl shook her head as she threw her hand up at a passing cab. It went by without noticing.

"Not that Jace. I _don't _believe you, let's put it that way. You looked like you saw a freaking ghost back there, not some trick of the light. And it was like you were staring at something as you were telling us it was a trick. There was something there, and you're just not telling me." Jace rolled his eyes, putting his hand out as a cab drove up. It stopped to let them in.

And as Blake told the driver the address, Jace swore that he could see a glimpse of flaming red hair as they drove off.

**A/N: Now, those of you who read my other stories, I'm sorry for taking time out of writing Could Have Not Should Have so that I could write this. It just came to me and I had to write it. But I promise that as soon as I can, I'll put up the next chapter of Could Have Not Should Have.**

**Reviews=cookies**


	2. Mom

**A/N: Second chapter of my story Switching Places, and I hope that you like it. Now, let's just clear some things up: Simon, instead of being a vamp, is going to be a Shadowhunter friend who lives at the Institute. He was officially adopted by the Lightwood family when his parents were killed during a fight. Second, Clary is still able to create her own runes, but she has more control over it than before. And, she is as fast as Jace, and just as strong, on account of the angel blood. Jace is the same as in the book, except for the key point of knowing that he's a Shadowhunter. **

**If you have questions, ask in a review or pm me. Either one, it doesn't matter.**

Chapter 2

Mom

Jace was lying on his bed the next day, attempting to relax, but he could hardly do that after what he had seen the previous night. He couldn't get it out of his head, the scene he had found at the club. Especially the red head, Clary. That girl's face was etched into his mind like one of his mother's paintings on canvas. It was a clear picture, and it wouldn't leave his head.

His cell rang a couple of times, the ring for an actual call, and he avoided those at all costs. Although he could talk perfectly when he was in front of someone, he couldn't talk on a phone for long without stuttering a little. Call it a flaw or a weakness, but he could never talk on the phone, for as long as he could remember.

His room was pretty normal, although Jace could hardly tell the difference. He hadn't been to another guy's house since he had been in third grade, because he had mostly become friends with Blake at that time. Although he was friends with some of the guys from school because of school sports, he could hardly say that he'd been invited over to someone else's house in a while, besides Blake's.

His walls were a light, off white color with hardwood floor. On the walls were some posters of bands that he liked, like Theory of a Dead Man and Green Day, and a shelf with a couple of footballs and baseballs on it, a football signed by the entire Giants team and a baseball signed by the entire Yankees team. Luke could get him in some places.

Speaking of parental figures, Jace was nothing like his. His mother, Jocelyn Fray, was much shorter than him at just over five feet and they looked nothing alike. Jace, with his blonde hair, golden eyes, and tanned skin was handsome. But Jocelyn, with her bright red hair (Jace thanked God many times that he didn't get _that _ hair) and pale skin, was beautiful. While they shared the similarities of being graced with good looks, they looked nothing alike.

Luke, by the way, was one of the few that Jace could remember ever since he was smaller. He had been like the father figure that he'd never known, bringing him to baseball and football games, bringing him to practices after school.

And another thing: Jace couldn't draw to save his life. His mother was one of the best artists that he'd ever known (which wasn't many) and there were so many of her original paintings in the house that they shared. Most of them were paintings of intricate backdrops that were too beautiful not to catch forever, and Jace had to agree. Although New York wasn't one of the prettiest places ever, there were still quite a few places where Jace could find his mom trying to capture a picture.

And while Jocelyn had that talent, Jace didn't. The most he could draw were stick people and what every other teenage boy could draw (probably worse than anyone else, though). That would be something he would leave to his mom to do.

Jace took off his earphones – music was his constant companion – and sat up before going to his computer desk. He checked mail, his myspace, and then got off before he got a text from Blake, a loud, blaring Foo Fighters ringtone that she had downloaded on his phone for only her calls or texts. The one for texts was Best of You, calls was Pretender.

**DMN! WYD 4 so long? **

He had to laugh at her use of text. But, before he could get another reply (this time angry) he sent one back.

**Voiding rental. WYD? **

Quickly, before he could get another one of her quick texts, he put it on vibrate so that his mom wouldn't come up to tell him to put it on silent.

**Bout the same. Hay, u goin to erics PN 2nite? **

Between him, her, and some of their other friends, PN stood for poetry night, which Eric had participated in for a while. This was how Jace looked at it: when Eric wasn't sucking at music, he was sucking at poetry. It was like diarrhea of the mouth with him.

**Wasnt goin 2, bt if u r, sure. **

He got a positive reply back and then he put his phone up, getting dressed in a pair of jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, and his old weather beaten Jacket. When he got a text from Blake saying she was five minutes away, Jace took a big breath before he went out to brave the nightmare that was his mom.

The night before, after they'd gone to Pandemonium, his mom had been – to put it mildly – _pissed_ at him for being so late. That was another thing about his mom: she was strict with his curfew, even if it was only a couple of minutes and if it was because of traffic. It was freaking New York City for crying out loud, when _wasn't _there traffic? But, lately, she had been even more on edge when he came home late, especially last night. Instead of yelling at him, she had been deadly calm and told him to go to his room, which made him feel like a scolded five year old.

Let's just say that it wasn't better than being yelled at.

When he got downstairs, he was surprised to see his mom humming under her breath to the song that was obviously playing into her earphones as she was moving boxes around all over the place. She moved efficiently and quickly, moving as much as she could. "Mom?" Jace called, getting no response. "Mom?" He said, this time a little louder.

Instead of turning towards him, Jocelyn kept on moving things around. "MOM!" With a yell, he pulled out the earphones, making her turn towards him in surprise. "I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving. Me and Blake are going out." She shook her head quickly, a fake smile on her face.

"You can't. I need help packing up for our trip." He watched, warily, as she began moving around boxes again. He sat on one as she moved them around, hoping not to have his seat taken. "When you mean 'our' you mean you and Luke, right?" She shook her head.

"I mean all of us, a big trip to the farm. Luke suggested it to me a couple of days ago and I just couldn't resist. We're going for the rest of the summer." He got up with an uproar, anger already ruining his day. "But I went and paid for the stupid baseball camp! It took me forever to raise that money! And then football camp's coming up soon, which I have to go to if I want to get on the varsity football team!" She shrugged.

"This is the only time we can go Jace; I'm sorry. How about this: I'll pay you back the money you spent on the baseball camp, but I don't know what I'll do about the football camp. There's nothing I can really do about that." With a groan, he hurried out the room, knocking down one of his mom's boxes without care. He could vaguely hear his mom's voice yelling at him to go pick it up, but he ignored her.

He found Luke at the top of the stairs, a few feet away from the door. He had a box – this one empty, from the looks of it – but he immediately put it down when he saw the look on Jace's face. "What did your mom do this time?" Jace, not wanting to get the parental act, shrugged and leaned against the wall.

After a few moments of silence, Jace blurted out, "What would you do if you saw something no one else could?" Luke looked up in a hurry, his eyes holding surprise and a little bit of discomfort, almost like he didn't want to talk about the subject. "Do you mean something like a crime that only you saw? Do you want to know what to do in a situation like that?" Rolling his eyes, Jace nodded his head slightly.

"Kind of. But what should I do, in any case?" Luke shrugged.

"Do what you think you should do. But if it was a serious crime, or any crime at all, I think you should tell someone." Almost like he was in a hurry, Luke quickly picked up his empty box and scurried inside, reminding Jace of a mouse running into the hole in a wall.

Taking a large breath, Jace began taking a step down the stairs, only to be held back by the sound of Luke and his mom's voice fighting quietly inside their apartment.

"Jocelyn, he would never help that man, if you'd even call him that. Jace might be selfish, but isn't every teenager? Now help me with the rest of…" Luke trailed off, leaving the rest of the conversation to be about some kind of new relic he'd found or some interesting face he knew about cardboard boxes (living around books made you know some things).

Jace found Blake at the bottom of the stairs, waiting patiently while texting on her phone to only God knows who. "So, you ready for poetry night?" Jace shrugged as he finished the walk down the stairs, taking a moment to watch Madame Dorothea's cat run quickly pass the two. But, for a brief flash, Jace saw a Cheshire cat grin and cat eyes, but it disappeared quickly.

"Yeah, sure. I just hope that Eric doesn't make me want to puke like the last time we went; talk about disgusting." Blake laughed as her friend joked, unknowing of the real emotions that ran through his head. And all of them were far from humorous.


	3. Poetry Night

**A/N: It seems like this story is a little more popular than a lot of my other stories, so I'm thanking those of you who reviewed but I'm a little peeved at those of you who didn't. If any of you could, I would like it if someone gave me some constructive criticism. No flames are allowed, but CC is allowed, even encouraged! **

**Okay, so here's the third chapter.**

Chapter 3

Poetry Night

They got to Eric's poetry night in the middle of someone else speaking on the microphone. But Eric was standing next to the stage, looking like he was half scared to death. Of course, as soon as he got onto the stage, he would be perfectly fine spewing whatever crap he had come up with. "I don't know if I was in full control of my body when I told you that I'd come to this." Jace leaned over and whispered to Blake.

She looked up at him, her eyes shining with amusement. "Well, it was either this or stay at your house for that screaming match between you and your mom. Which would you prefer?" He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, a sure sign that the subject wasn't a good one. "What the hell did your mom do now?"

With a sigh, he began explaining everything that had happened, from the night before to what had happened before he had left. "Don't worry your little head about it. Your mom gets like that sometimes–like when she breathes in and out." With a laugh, the tension between the two decreased and Blake went to get the two of them some coffee.

Jace looked all around the room, finding it to be the exact same as the last time they had been here, besides the people. But, sometimes (especially lately) it seemed like Jace was seeing strange people entering and leaving the place. Some had all kinds of strange decorations, others had sharp teeth like vampires, and others sometimes had claws.

But tonight, not one of those strange people were there. Everyone there that night was normal, or at least as normal as a bunch of poetry geeks. But there was one guy, dark haired and green eyed, that was staring at Jace, one that nearly made him want to look away in discomfort. "Hey," Jace looked to the guy and saw that he was talking to him. "Is that girl you're hanging with, does she have a boyfriend or something?"

And, with a laugh, he shook his head. "Nah; she's single. Why, you interested?" The boy shrugged and quickly turned away as Jace sensed Blake coming back, the coffee smelling great. "You see that guy over there?" Jace asked her before taking a sip, pointing to the brunette haired as he smirked. "The guy thinks you're cute. Maybe you should go talk to him."

Blake rolled her eyes and shook her head as she leaned into the couch Jace had chosen for their seats. "It wouldn't be fair to the guy if I talked to him. I'd get his hopes up for nothing," Blake replied, wincing as she took a sip of hot coffee. "Besides. I like someone else."

Jace felt his eyebrows hit the ceiling; the words a surprise that stunned even him. "That's new. Mind explaining?" Jace asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively as Blake playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Oh screw you Jonathon Fray. If you must know, he's on the football team, junior varsity, and varsity baseball. That should keep you guessing for a while," She replied, smug as she looked to the small stage where Eric was now standing. The two of them, along with the majority of people in there, winced from the feedback as he tapped on the mic. "Oh joy, here we go."

The terrible poetry lasted way too long, Jace thought absentmindedly as his eyes strayed from the stage and around the café. Which was when he heard the giggle and he looked behind him to find the red head from last night, a smirk on her lips as she surveyed him and Blake. She waved in their direction before sending a 'come hither' gesture to him.

It only took a moment when Jace looked down at Blake then back that Clary disappeared, as if she hadn't been there in the first place. "Jace?" He looked down at Blake, half preoccupied with wanting to chase after that girl. "Your phone's been ringing for a while now. How about you answer it before your mom gets even more pissed than usual," She said, pointing at his pocket.

"Oh, yeah. Hey, I gotta go Blake. I'll talk to you later," He said, throwing his coffee cup into the garbage on his way out of the little café.

He checked his calls and found that his mom had called him almost twenty times in the past hour and a half, which meant she was seriously worried about _something_. "Hey," A voice called from the alley. Jace looked up and found her sitting on one of the metal trashcans, her long white dress now traded for a sleeveless mens under armour shirt that, Jace noticed absently, showed off what chest she had. And for pants he was surprised to find her wearing tight, black leather with a belt resting on her hips and boots that reminded Jace of the military.

Jace took one look at her before going back to his phone, dialing his mom's number and holding it up to his ear. "Really, you're going to ignore me? You better feel lucky that I don't have anything better to do," Clary grumbled, crossing her arms as she waited impatiently.

It barely took the first ring and Jocelyn Fray was on the phone, speaking quickly and her words a jumble for Jace to comprehend. "Mom, if you're pissed I'll just head home but I'm not going to give in—"

"NO! You can't come home Jace! Go to Blake's or one of the guys, go to Luke's! Just don't come home!" Jocelyn cried into the phone hysterically. "Jace, I mean it! _Don't go home_!"

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Jace yelled into the phone, feeling the curious eyes of Clary getting more and more intense as the conversation went on. "What's wrong at the house?"

"It doesn't matter Jace!" She said, her voice no louder than a whisper now. Jace had to listen carefully just to hear her. "Just listen to me and don't come home. And please remember that I love you. Just please don't come home. It's too dangerous right now," She said, a thud coming through the phone, like something trying to get through a door. "I love you Jace."

The line went dead and Jace was left standing there, stupidly staring at his cell phone. "Jace?" The quiet, calm voice of Clary snapped him out of his stupor. It just sounded so different that he found himself drawn to it. "What happened? Can you tell me what happened to your mom. What did she say?"

"I-I don't know," He said, his hand trembling as he went to hit redial—only to drop his phone, picking it up to find the screen in pieces and the buttons no longer working. "Shit! Do you have a phone or something?"

"The only thing I have on me is a sensor but—hey, it won't help you very much!" She yelled in annoyance as he took the little cell phone shaped object out of her hands and tried using it. But, like she said, it didn't help. There weren't any numbers. Instead, there were strange little symbols on the buttons. "Jace, don't try anything stupid. Whatever your mom was worried about you don't need to get in the middle of it."

But Jace was over listening to everyone else. So, instead of paying Clary any heed, he took off in the direction of his house.

The complex didn't look very different. It looked the same but there was something very…off about it. Maybe it was just a feeling from the phone call but Jace knew there was something wrong with the place. Something had happened and it wasn't exactly good.

He stalked towards the stairs, careful to avoid any kind of people the might be passing through. And he nearly made it to his floor until he reached Madame Dorothea's—the resident 'witch' of the complex. "Jonathon Fray, Luke told me a week ago that he'd come over and change this light bulb in the hallway. And tell your mom to keep it down; whatever she's doing she's making a racket and it's giving me a headache," Madame Dorothea said, opening her door just enough to reveal some of the witchery going on inside.

"I'll be sure to remind Luke, Madame Dorothea," Jace said, gritting his teeth to keep from telling off the elder woman. He didn't stay behind to listen to her rant on, instead heading up the stairs even as she called after him.

The door wasn't closed like it should've been. It was opened a crack, like someone had meant to slam it closed but hadn't made it that far. Going against was his entire body was screaming at him to do, Jace walked through the door—albeit quietly—to try and investigate. There wasn't a thing there; not a sound could be heard as he walked throughout the small house.

But someone had definitely been through there. Jace found almost everything overturned in their home, everything thrown around as if someone was looking for something. Even his own room was ransacked, his mattress laying feet from his bed frame and his computer lying lopsided on the opposite side of the room, screen cracked as if it had been thrown there.

The last place he checked was his mom's room and, to his surprise, the room was in perfect condition. Even the box on the side of the bed with Jace's dad's picture in it was still there, still with that lock of red hair and a ring.

That was when he heard the scraping and the sliding, like a snake across a hard floor. It was almost like he could hear the thing slithering, the hissing and scratching getting louder as it got closer to his mom's room. Absentmindedly, he picked up one of his old bats that Jocelyn kept in there for protection, although they'd never needed to use it.

The cracked door opened as something pushed it and in came something that reminded Jace of a cross between an alligator and a centipede, a hug stinger on the end of its tail that looked ready to kill. But that wasn't the thing that crossed his mind first. It was the fact that he could _hear this thing speak_. The hissing was like words, words that Jace wished he never had to hear again.

The thing clawed at the floor, trying to get him as he tried getting away. Jace tried hitting the thing with his bat once, twice, but the metal bat only bounced off of the thing as if it were hitting metal. And then the thing was on top of him, clawing at him and drooling onto his skin—the green slobber burned wherever it touched, like acid.

Only when those sharp teeth were inches from biting right through him did Jace remember the sensor he'd taken from Clary. It took some maneuvering but he'd managed to get to the pocket holding the damn thing and, when it went in for another bite, he shoved the sensor into the monster's mouth.

The monster paused long enough to give Jace a chance to escape, standing with his back against the door as he watched the thing twitch and claw. It was only when he was sure the thing wasn't going to attack him again that he took off, only to feel something catch him in the back of the neck, right below where his hair ended. He heard the thing's struggles but they got quieter and quieter as the edge of Jace's vision started getting darker and darker—until it went entirely black.

"Don't move too much," Jace heard a voice tell him, pulling him out of the darkness to stare straight into the green eyes of Clary. "The damn thing got you just as it was dying but it still managed to inject some venom. Dammit, we can't move with those demons on the lawn," She said and, from the red hair that was recognizable even in the dark, Jace knew it was Clary.

"Clary, we've gotta get the mundie out of here before the find us here. Try making a complete glamour rune or something so we can get out of here," Another voice, this one belonging to a guy. When he finally came into view Jace had the name on the tip of his tongue, something that started with an S he was sure.

"That would take care of us but what about him? I mean, he's dead whether or not we get out of here; it'll take a while to get out of here. While we're at it, we might as well give him an iratze or something," She said, and then her eyes lit up as if she had a great idea. "Simon, I think I've just figured out our plan. Hand me my stele, will you?"

Simon looked down at the two with distaste, reluctantly handing over the wooden handled stele, frowning disapprovingly. "Clary, I get what you're trying to do but if this doesn't work, do you know how much pain he's going to be in? Yeah, he'll die but it'll be ten times worse," He replied matter-of-factly, watching as she set to work.

"I get that but he's going to die with or without our help at this point if we don't use runes. So I'm willing to do this, if it'll keep him alive," She said, Jace watching her with some kind of interest as he felt something stinging his chest—he couldn't remember when his shirt had been taken. Before long, the stinging was gone and was replaced by a feeling of contentment. "Now come on and let me draw the rune on, so we can at least try to make it past the damn demons scouting out his house," Clary told Simon, leaving Jace on the ground as he began losing consciousness again.

The last thing he saw was Clary's eyes as she began working on the rune, her eyes focused on her job.


End file.
